A couple of my friends had recommended Acapulco to me, so I decided to give it a try. I am SO glad I did since I totally loved all of it! Seasons one and two were so great and I'm excited for season three now. It can't get here fast enough!
Acapulco reminds me of a few other past favorites of mine (as they are no longer on or I am no longer watching them, in one case). The first is Jane the Virgin. It carries the campy telenovela feel that I always got from that show. And young Maximo's voice reminds me of Rogelio. Plus, it takes place at a hotel and a lot of Jane was set at a hotel too. Next is The Goldbergs, mostly because of all the eighties nostalgia. Maximo's nephew Hugo is precocious like Adam was back in the day. The present time narration of past events reminds me of How I Met Your Mother, especially in the quirky way that Maximo does it. He keeps trying to protect Hugo from having too much information by using other words to describe things, which is something that older Ted would do all the time. ("Stuff, kids. Stuff.") There is one aspect of this show that reminds me so much of Love, Victor. Maximo's sister Sara also reminds me of Victor's sister Pilar in some ways. Finally, the virtual vacation feel totally gives off White Lotus vibes, even though this show is lighter than White Lotus in most ways.
If that hasn't given you enough reason to watch Acapulco, here are some more:
1. All the characters are great. (Well, there are a couple who aren't so great but they're only in one episode.) Even the ones who aren't supposed to be likable change a lot by the end of season two.
2. The eighties music, and it's all performed in Spanish by these two fabulously entertaining singers.
3. There are some mystery elements involved. Not murder mystery, just secrets that get revealed in bits and pieces, if at all. (There are still some mysteries left to be solved by the time season two wraps up.)
4. The story has so much heart to it. Even with all the light and fun moments, there are some deeper things being explored, such as relationships, friendship, family, regret, morality, etc.
5. There's a lot of humor in each episode. It provides a great balance of comic relief from everything else going on.
6. I love the setting of the hotel. It's gorgeous and looks like it would be so much fun to visit. I wouldn't mind hanging out by the pool to watch the performers in their different costumes. (See #2.)
7. It's empowering. Watching Maximo try to work his way up the ladder was definitely a point of interest. I loved seeing him come up with ways to make things better for the hotel when he was put to the task.
8. It feels very authentic in terms of casting and culture. I only knew who two of the actors were going into this. One was Eugenio Derbez, who plays adult Maximo (and I liked him in this even more than I did in CODA). The other was Chord Overstreet (from Glee), who plays Chad. I liked that everyone else was virtually unknown to me. (There were some familiar faces in a couple episodes though, such as Wendie Malick as Diane's agent and Will Sasso as Maximo's assistant.) I also liked learning about different customs and traditions.
9. I love that it doesn't just focus on Maximo's story. I especially enjoyed seeing flashbacks for Don Pablo and Diane's lives in certain episodes. I'm glad Memo got his own storyline too. I'm hoping we'll continue to learn more about some of the other characters in season three.
10. It has an LGBTQ+ sub plot (hence the Love, Victor comparison). It's not all light and breezy either. Things were different in the eighties (even though it's still hard for some people nowadays, it was a lot harder back then).
If you still don't believe me, check out the trailer. (I'll be posting some spoilers afterward, so don't go any further than that if you're new to this show.)
Spoilers ahead...
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First of all, the season two ending....OMG!!! I am still reeling from that very last moment before the credits. Such a game changer with the reveal that Maximo has a daughter. Wow.
Brief thoughts on the characters:
Maximo: He is more of a complex character than I was expecting him to be. He had a lot of moments where he questioned his morality and whether or not he was doing the right thing. I love how he sacrificed getting credit for making Julia the dress in order to help his mom fix her vision. I also get why he went to certain lengths to get money. And I actually don't blame him for tipping off Espectacular about the tennis guy's wig. The tennis guy was such a jerk!
Julia: She's definitely girlcrush worthy. I appreciate her kindness, especially when she took Sara in after Sara ran away from home and told her why. The on-again, off-again attention toward Maximo was frustrating sometimes. I'm glad she finally took ownership of what she wanted for herself. And I love her dress designs!
Memo: One of the greatest characters on this show. You'd think he's there for comic relief, but he's a sensitive soul too. I felt so bad for him when Lupe was keeping him from seeing Lorena and then when Lorena told him she wasn't able to come back to the resort for the summer. I also like that he was the voice of reason for Maximo.
Esteban: He is just so lovable. I love how he dotes upon Nora. He reminds me of Miguel from This is Us in some ways. I felt so bad for him when his mom was picking on him and then comparing him to Don Pablo. And I loved how he saved the day when Sara tried going away with Roberta.
Hugo: Maximo's nephew is so much fun. I love how he always calls Maximo out on stuff and he knows more than Maximo thinks he does. "Why were you playing dominoes when you could be having sex?" Too funny!
Sara: I love how eighties-centric she is with how she dresses and dances around. I also like how she figured out that she really is a lesbian, even though I felt bad for the guy who was interested in her. I'm glad she decided to come home and that things got better between her and Nora.
Nora: I found Nora really frustrating for a while with how uptight she was with her religious beliefs. I'm glad she loosened up more, even though it took a while for that to happen. I did feel bad for her that Sara ran away from home, but I also was angry with her for not being supportive of Sara and hiding behind her religion instead. She and Esteban were really cute together though.
Don Pablo: I liked him a lot throughout the series, but I was annoyed that he didn't push back more in order to get time with his family. I was glad when he finally resigned, even though I could tell that his son wasn't so happy to have him around all the time. I love how he took Maximo under his wing to help him succeed at the hotel.
Diane: I liked her a lot more after learning her backstory and why she hated tabloids so much. I didn't appreciate her trying to mess things up for Chad and Julia. She should have just been more straightforward with them to begin with. She reminded me a bit of Jennifer Coolidge sometimes. I also thought it was funny how no one appreciated her attempts at humor.
Chad: He can come off as a douche, but I also like that he has a good heart overall. His stupidity could be amusing though. I love when Maximo tricked him into thinking his one friend was dangerous. I love how he became friends with Memo and how Memo was imitating him in front of all the other "Chads." I also thought it was cute how he learned to salsa dance because of the change in wedding music plans and then learned something about himself in the process.
Lupe: She reminds me of Selma from Reboot with her dry humor. She's so much fun to watch and full of interesting surprises. She can sing! Who knew? I really love what she did for Memo and Lorena in the season two finale, even though she put a condition on it afterward...
Hector: Hector can be a pain to deal with, but he grew on me after a while and I felt bad for him when Diane ended their affair. I didn't even want to see him potentially take the fall for Maximo's press leak.
Isabel: I liked her in general, but not as a girlfriend for Maximo. There was just no chemistry. Maybe I was biased toward him being with Julia though. Isabel has a good head on her shoulders even if she steals little things from the hotel.
Some of the side characters, such as Beto, the singing duo, and a few others were also really good. I really liked Lorena a lot, as well. I wasn't so fond of Fabian, but I'm glad he was willing to cooperate with Diane at the end.
Other notes:
The older version of Memo was cast perfectly. I also love that young Memo was playing his son, Memito. He took on such a different personality for that too.
On a similar note, I didn't think young Maximo and adult Maximo looked anything alike.
I did some math in the episode about the decades and figured out that Maximo was about 17 when he started at Las Colinas. He was born in 1967, based on the show's timeline, and the story takes place in 1984. (Unless I'm mistaken and that was Sara who Nora was holding when Don Pablo came by, but I'm pretty sure it was Maximo.) Isn't Julia in her twenties though?
I hope they will reveal who Chad's father is in season three. That's definitely a lingering mystery.
I love how everyone came together to throw a party for Esteban and Nora's wedding. That was just so sweet and touching.
Since you've come this far, it means you've watched the show. I'd love to hear your thoughts!
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